My guide to digital photography

[Thomas S. England]

I am preparing to teach a small class on digital photography to a group of working photogs who are on the verge of switching over.

I've prepared a Primer on digital photography to serve as a starting point for the class. It is available online at: Primer for digital photography

I want to emphasize that this is a casual work-in-progress. In fact, it will be updated fairly often as I have the chance to work on it.

Still, I thought others might find it interesting even as it is now.

Please don't ask me to suggest which digital camera to buy. I have a hard enough time keeping up with the latest stuff for the high-end market these days.

Any comments on this Primer would be appreciated, especially any typos or misleading thoughts.

enjoy

[pendragon]

Thomas, Because I was learning so much from reading it on-line, I downloaded a copy so that I may again read it. The second read being for serious comprehension, and not just/only enjoyment.

I am not sure I know enough to proffer substantive comments, but I do think it is so well done as to warrant copywriting.

Harv

[CyberPet]

OK, I know it's not the finished product, but can't you add some photo's so that it's not a long wad of text. I'm more or less aware of the most of this, but i might miss some interesting stuff (that I don't know) because it's tiering to read that much text at once).

But from a content point of view I grade it: A+

/Petra

[Thomas S. England]

I want to add photos, but for reasons of the format I've chosen, it turned out to be a problem.

I am writing it in Appleworks, saving in .html so I can have live hyperlinks.

When I inserted photos, I lost the formating I wanted.

I plan to select illustrative photos to give examples of various points when I'm actually presenting to the class. But, point taken, and I will work out a better method.

[CyberPet]

Maybe you should download a demo of Adobe GoLive (it'll expire in 30 days) and you will be able to make the web pages look nice as well as add some nice pictures etc.

Another idea would be to divide the diffrent parts into several pages so it's not just a long scroll to go through. You could make a document with pictures and save it as a PDF-file for download, and then make a web page which is reachable only on the web with sub-pages etc.

[ClayEM]

I'm not a prude, but use of the 'f---ing' word does not seem to fit in this well written document.

I have bookmarked your site and plan on using it for reference...it's got a lot of good info.

Since you asked, there was a typo, 'matach', in the last paragraph.    

Clay

[kps]

That's pretty    

I have bookmarked the page for a thorough read. I hope you'll find the time to keep updating it.  

question: I need a suggestion from you, TS photogs regarding an issue I have. I'm sure you're familiar with the highly reflective stripes that are put on uniforms or sport clothing for safety at night. My Nikon 995, combined with the Nikon SB DX80 flash are great, but easily fooled by the reflective stripes resulting in gross underexposure. Full manual would resolve the issue I suppose, but I'm wondering if there's a way to use auto and still get proper results.

[ClayEM]

kps,
Just a thought...sometimes with badly underexposed pictures, I've let Photoshop or Graphic Converter bring them back to life with the Auto Level function. In some cases I think the pictures are better than if the flash had been on...Have you tried that?

Clay

[kps]

Yes, Clay, I fix them in Photoshop using the "levels" adjustment, but the "noise" level increases. The quality is rather poor if the picture was underexposed by 2 or more stops.

I thought of adjusting for that by changing the ASA / DIN settings on the flash and/or camera, but haven't tried it for real.

[ClayEM]

Good thought...the lower the ASA number, the lower the noise...

But of course you knew that

[CyberPet]

quote:Originally posted by ClayEM:
Good thought...the lower the ASA number, the lower the noise...

But of course you knew that    

In the digital world it's ISO not ASA, but it's the same principle. Low ISO less noise.

[Thomas S. England]

About those reflective stripes, here are a couple of suggestions.

As I said, I don't know much about any Nikons other than the D1x, but if you are using the SB 80 Speedlight, then I would imagine you can use the SC17 connecting cord. The goal would be to direct the light so that it is hitting the players at an oblique angle, and not coming stright back into your camera.
That way you won't get such a blast of highly directed flash and the contrast between the stripes & the players won't be as severe.

You can hold the flash away from your camera with one hand, or place it on a stand, or use an assistant. You could even consider two light sources, from different angles.

I would pose the question here:

http://www.sportsshooter.com/

Another approach, which is very dependent on the ambient light is to try to use more available light during your exposure, filling in with the strobe. You could either boost the ASA/ISO or shoot at a slower shutter speed, depending on the flash to freeze the action. Some blur is OK, especially if your camera has rear-curtain sync, which means that the flash fires at the end of a longish exposure.

As for noise at higher ISO/ASA, there are some very effective noise reduction Photoshop actions available at:

http://www.fredmiranda.com/isoX/index.html

or

http://www.pixelgenius.com/photokit/

[Xairbusdriver]

Don't forget about Elements!. I assumed this was a severely striped down version of Photoshop, but I am amazed at the features available, especially when combined with the tools provided by Richard Lynch in his latest book "PSE 2 Hidden Tools." It was one of his tools that I used to get rid of the 'noise' in that night photo.

The book barely touches on the program itself, rather it is an explanation, usually thru multi-step exercizes, of the tools he provides. He claims some of the tools allow things that are not even possible in the full version of PS. I can't vouch for that, since I've never used it.

The book is sometimes way over my head, but it supplies a lot of theory with examples and fairly simple text. There are some typos, but he seems more than willing to explain what was supposed to be in the text. He is working on a site to provide more tools. Like Thomas' site, it needs 2 or 3 thorough readings (especially for me!    ).

Jim C.

[kps]

Thanks for the suggestions and links.

Originally I was thinking that by fidling with the ISO ratings on either the camera or the flash I could compensate for the underexposure and not just eliminate the noise.

If the reflective stripes underexpose by 2 stops between 10-15 feet when the camera and flash are set at ISO 200, will it compensate if I set the flash to ISO 64? I'll have to test that one day.

If I'm relatively close to the subject, the noise isn't so bad once photoshop levels are applied, but the further the subject is from the camera, the worse the noise.

Here's a shot for comparison which was taken with the Coolpix 995 and its built-in flash at a close distance. The picture on the right is the underexposed original, the one on the left is the corrected image.

[Thomas S. England]

I have done some updating of my Primer for digital photography:

 Digital Photography Primer

It's still one long scroll, I'm afraid,and the newer stuff tends to be at the end. I will make it an easier read at some point.

New sections discuss resolution & color management. I've also discovered more of "What Could Possibly Go Wrong"